#Alexander Bernardazzi

The man who gave Ungheni its “St. Alexander Nevsky” Cathedral: 195 years since the birth of architect Alexander Bernardazzi

Today, 2 July, marks 195 years since the birth of Alexander Bernardazzi — Chișinău's chief architect in the second half of the 19th century and the author of dozens of landmark buildings, who designed and gifted the people of Ungheni the plan for the “St. Alexander Nevsky” Cathedral, built in 1903–1905 and now an episcopal cathedral. A street in the Tineretului district has borne his name since 2005. A bonus: the story comes with a correction — Bernardazzi was not born in Saint Petersburg, as often stated, but in Pyatigorsk, in the Caucasus — and a curiosity: that same street once carried the name of another great Bessarabian architect.